Facts and features

The Centre du patrimoine is an archival facility designed for the administration, preservation and access of Franco-Manitoban and Métis archives and related documents. It provides state-of-the-art storage facilities in an atmosphere encouraging public use and awareness.

The Centre du patrimoine building was inspired by the most recent concepts in the architecture of archives buildings. The vaults were built using the envelope inside an envelope concept.

Temperature and humidity are carefully controlled to provide the proper preservation environment. The air is filtered using a highly efficient humidity, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit making it possible to meet the norms as specified in the conservation policy of the Société historique de Saint-Boniface and normally recognized in the industry.

Characteristics :

Construction date: 1997-1998

Location: The building is next to the Centre culturel franco-manitobain, 340 boul. Provencher, Saint-Boniface, Manitoba.

Public access is integrated to the Centre culturel franco-manitobain building. The foyer, salon Empire, functions as an exhibit area and entrance hall.

Centre du patrimoine entrance, salon Empire:

The entrance into the Centre du patrimoine is a two storey high foyer used for exhibitions and gatherings. One wall of this space is a display of original pieces of the facade of the demolished Empire Hotel which was originally constructed as the Cauchon Block in 1882. Its pressed metal façade, designed in the Victorian Italianate style was constructed of decorative cast iron columns and stamped galvanized iron with zinc details. When demolished in 1982, the facade was put in storage as a designated Provincial Historic Object.

Public Areas:
Beyond the foyer is the reading and research area, salle Lionel-Dorge, which houses a library containing approximately 10,000 books, a microfilm area and an audio/visual area for processing and viewing moving images and sound archives. Adjacent to the foyer is a 30 seat multi-purpose room, salle Neil-Gaudry.

Information at your finger tips:
Computer cabling connecting to a main server runs throughout the building to allow computer applications as required including for public use and internet access. Wi-Fi access is also available.

Lighting:
Outside of the reading and research area is a long courtyard on the south side allowing natural light deep into the building.

Second and third floors:
The upper two floors are accessed by staff only and house a vault each, mechanical rooms, a work room, a quarantine room and a staff room. The work room is used for processing archival material stored in the second and third floor vaults. It also serves for basic archival preservation activities.

The vaults:
The archival vault areas have mechanical systems independent of each other and the rest of the facility. These systems allow for the independent control of both temperature and humidity. It also ensures a dust-free environment.

Each vault is maintained by an independent CVCA LIEBERT DELUXE SYSTEM_3 which ensures that temperature and humidity are properly regulated. The system maintains a relative humidity of 40% (±5%) and a temperature of 15°C (±5°C). The system also has a staged filter (primary and terminal) which eliminates up to 95% of particles .5 microns or larger. The walls are insulated, sealed and surrounded by an inspection corridor. The outside walls themselves are insulated and sealed to ensure an environment as controlled as possible. Above the third floor vault is a steel vaulted roof, allowing for another heated buffer zone.

The Storage System:
The second floor vault area (221 square meters or 2,380 square feet) is furnished with a LUNDIA FULLSPACE mobile system incorporating E-Z-RECT TRIM-LINE boltless shelving units. This system was installed by Wearing Williams Limited. The potential storage capacity of this system is over thirteen thousand on hundred and twenty archival boxes (14 cm x 40.5 cm). With compact shelving for the whole space, there is a 1,865 linear meters of storage.The third floor vault area (228 square meters or 2,455 square feet) is furnished with stationary shelving for a capacity of seven thousand eight hundred and eighty five archival boxes (1,104 linear meters of storage). It also includes a small area for freezers used for cold storage of some archives.

Furniture:
The first floor was furnished by ACCENT EQUIPMENT, who have provided us with PALMERI DURECON LIBRARY SHELVING; PALMERI tables and trolleys; HON desks, chairs and filing cabinets. Folding tables by MIDWEST and CTX chairs have also been supplied by ACCENT EQUIPMENT.